,----[ Quote ]
| Torvalds began his work in 1991. Now, the continued development of Linux is
| largely driven by users.
|
| The source code at the heart of all Linux systems is freely available to
| everyone.
|
| Hundreds of companies, organizations and individuals have released versions
| of Linux-based operating systems.
|
| Users cite the functionality and adaptability of Linux as making it the main
| alternative for the Unix and Microsoft operating systems.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| FSF volunteer and the short film's writer-producer Matt Lee said, "Stephen
| has generously donated his time to the cause of free software. His ability to
| communicate a technological and philosophical movement in terms of the basic
| principles of sharing and user freedom -- ideas that everyone can
| understand -- will introduce a new and broader audience to the benefits of
| free software."
|
| [...]
|
| Stallman began development of free-as-in-freedom Unix-like GNU software in
| September, 1983. In 1992, all the essential pieces of the GNU system were
| complete, except for one, the operating system kernel.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| August 16th, 1993 is the date when the Debian Project was officially founded.
| A new Linux distribution at a time when Linux distributions were scarce
| enough. A distribution that was open to every developer and user as far as
| contributions when was unique.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| 16 August 2008 will mark the 15th birthday of the Debian project since its
| first announcement by founder Ian Murdock on comp.os.linux.development on 16
| August 1993. A coordination page for local Debian User Groups organizing and
| announcing birthday events is already available at the Debian Wiki.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| Debian, arguably the most important Linux distribution, is readying to
| celebrate its 15th birthday on August 16.
|
| While a respected and widely-used Linux distribution in its own right, Debian
| has, over the 15 years, also been widely used as the base for numerous other
| Linux distributions, including the popular Ubuntu distribution created by
| South African entrepreneur, Mark Shuttleworth.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| In the June 2008 Top500 list, Linux still lives large with a role in 92% of
| systems (It is the only OS for 85.4%, but when considering all distributions
| (SUSE, Red Hat, CentOS, and general â€˜Linux,â€™ as well as mixed uses that
| include Linux, I figure the share is more like the 92%).
| Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*^^^
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| EDC noted that some 40 percent of the survey's 500 respondents were targeting
| ^^^^^^^^^^
| embedded Linux.
|
| [...]
|
| Also in the earlier reports, Andrews observed that the need for RTOS source
| code was "one of the reasons that proprietary RTOSes created in-house for a
| specific system have long been popular, and now it's a primary motivating
| factor in the adoption of Embedded Linux."
|
| The now completed survey results are said to include "expert analysis" from
| Ann Thryft, a 20-year industry veteran. The report includes chapters on
| platforms, processors, tools, languages, security, target devices, mobile
| development, and of course, Linux.
`----

It's not dead; I'll give it that (and I hope it never
dies; AmigaOS is effectively out of the picture, for
example). Also, Linux is rather popular with server and
to a lesser extent mobiles (Symbian still being tops in
that department).

But Windows 95 had a far faster adoption rate, in 1995 or
thereabouts. Of course it had a little help from MS-DOS.
I'll admit to wondering as to Windows' rate of adoption
in the 1985 timeframe, when it first came out.

Re: [News] Linux Has A Birthday

After takin' a swig o' grog, The Ghost In The Machine belched out
this bit o' wisdom:
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Chris Ahlstrom
>
>>
>> Imagine that! A "hobbyist" project surviving 17 years under that shadow
>> of Mordorsoft.
>>
>> Not only surviving... flourishing.
>
> It's not dead; I'll give it that (and I hope it never
> dies; AmigaOS is effectively out of the picture, for
> example). Also, Linux is rather popular with server and
> to a lesser extent mobiles (Symbian still being tops in
> that department).
>
> But Windows 95 had a far faster adoption rate, in 1995 or
> thereabouts. Of course it had a little help from MS-DOS.

And from a marketing campaign blitz by Microsoft.
> I'll admit to wondering as to Windows' rate of adoption
> in the 1985 timeframe, when it first came out.

Windows was pure crap until version 3. Right about when Microsoft stuck
a shiv in IBM's back.

--
The essential ideas of Algol 68 were that the whole language should be
precisely defined and that all the pieces should fit together smoothly.
The basic idea behind Pascal was that it didn't matter how vague the
language specification was (it took *years* to clarify) or how many rough
edges there were, as long as the CDC Pascal compiler was fast.
-- Richard A. O'Keefe

Re: [News] Linux Has A Birthday

In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Chris Ahlstrom
wrote
on Mon, 6 Oct 2008 12:18:33 -0400:
> After takin' a swig o' grog, The Ghost In The Machine belched out
> this bit o' wisdom:
>
>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Chris Ahlstrom
>>
>>>
>>> Imagine that! A "hobbyist" project surviving 17 years under that shadow
>>> of Mordorsoft.
>>>
>>> Not only surviving... flourishing.
>>
>> It's not dead; I'll give it that (and I hope it never
>> dies; AmigaOS is effectively out of the picture, for
>> example). Also, Linux is rather popular with server and
>> to a lesser extent mobiles (Symbian still being tops in
>> that department).
>>
>> But Windows 95 had a far faster adoption rate, in 1995 or
>> thereabouts. Of course it had a little help from MS-DOS.
>
> And from a marketing campaign blitz by Microsoft.

Hmm...was that the flitty butterfly campaign? They run
together after awhile. ;-) But you're right; they had
to have oodles of marketing budget to spend on the song
"Start Me Up (You Make a Grown Man Cry)"...

What song would Linux adopt? An interesting question.
I'm not sure I like the concept espoused in the last post
at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179874 , funny
as it otherwise is (it's the best I can do when searching
for the Tux image stomping on the Redmond campus).

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

(Not that NT/XP's adoption rate in the server realm
is anywhere near to warm, apparently, though Microsoft
and GoDaddy have been playing some interesting tricks
in that area.)
>
>> I'll admit to wondering as to Windows' rate of adoption
>> in the 1985 timeframe, when it first came out.
>
> Windows was pure crap until version 3. Right about when
> Microsoft stuck a shiv in IBM's back.
>

Microsoft seems to have a lot of practice doing that:

- That AARD code in the 3.10 beta, which was disabled
(but not removed!) in the final product. This was
apparently in 1991.

- OS/who? Apparently the initial plan was for IBM
and Microsoft to offer NT to the public, but
Windows 3.0 took off like a rocket. Microsoft
saw an opportunity and jumped, breaking away from
IBM to take all the marbles for themselves.

- Internet Exploder, erm, Explorer. 2 was horrid.
3 was terrible. 4 was somewhat usable (better than
Netscape, perhaps; I don't remember now), and usurped
Netscape, which died, with Mozilla rising like a phoenix
from the ashes -- or Godzilla from the waters of a
conveniently-located bay, perhaps -- and now enjoying
anything from a 15% to 30% browser share. Even
Microsoft has abandoned its own browser:http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozil...E7-60864.shtml
(Wow.)

[For clarification purposes: apparently a shiv or chiv is
an improvised knife or knife-like weapon; basically
it's anything sufficiently pointy, from a cloth-wrapped
glass shard, a razorblade in a toothbrush, a sharpened
spoon handle, or even a filed-off section of a pork bone.
Sounds very nasty, and of course shivs are popular among
prison inmates.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_%28weapon%29
]

Re: [News] Linux Has A Birthday

After takin' a swig o' grog, The Ghost In The Machine belched out
this bit o' wisdom:
> [For clarification purposes: apparently a shiv or chiv is
> an improvised knife or knife-like weapon; basically
> it's anything sufficiently pointy, from a cloth-wrapped
> glass shard, a razorblade in a toothbrush, a sharpened
> spoon handle, or even a filed-off section of a pork bone.
> Sounds very nasty, and of course shivs are popular among
> prison inmates.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_%28weapon%29

Shank you very much!

--
World War Three can be averted by adherence to a strictly enforced dress code!